Right livelihood - easy, actionable charity

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

- Muhammad Ali

There has been a lot of talk about enlightenments, attainments, jhanas, and awakenings. Buddhas and bodhisattvas abound. And - as my friends pointed out because even I was in that mindset - there is fairly little talk about the right livelihood.

Virtue is an indispensable part of the path. I have written a sad little about it, so here is one of my bigger articles… And even though I risk being accused of boasting, I will try to share with you my approach. And as is my nature, this approach is fairly easy, practical, and actionable.

Now - it is not really boasting since there is nothing to boast about. I just do the bare minimum my conscience lets me get away with. Even though I could do much, much more, I still spend my money on things I don’t need.

So please forgive me.

The aim of this article is to inspire and provide advice, and I think that has value even though it might be misinterpreted. But then again - I’m fairly anonymous, so it is not like I have some high stakes here. And - if more people feel inspired to do at least a little bit, it is much better than when I do it alone.

At the same time - I live a fairly privileged life showered with blessings from all sides. So what is a bare minimum for me could be unattainable for others. Please do not feel bad about this - the right livelihood is about balanced living. We are all entitled to the fruits of our labor.

But please - try to give others who are in even worse situations than you are. Bear in mind that all you give will return to you, one way or another. And every bit counts, however small.

“He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own.”

- Confucius

Let’s start.

Family and community

Consider starting locally. This might not require me to point it out, but still. Consider your family. Are there old people that could benefit from your help? Maybe you can help them do the laundry of bedsheets, clean the dust from top shelves, or vacuum behind heavy furniture they can no longer move.

Maybe there are parts of your family that would benefit just from your presence. People can get lonely or depressed and just being with and talking to them improves their lives.

Or maybe someone in your family has little children and you can watch over them and give parents a moment of respite.

Consider the same for your neighbors.

These are simple, costless ways to improve the lives of the people closest to you. Small acts of kindness like these reverberate through the community all the way up to archetypal realms.

In the streets

I usually collect trash wherever I go. I just can’t help it really and when I see trash on the sidewalks and in the bushes in my part of town, I just pick them up and throw them in a trashcan. I do it so much that now I carry a rubber glove everywhere I go…

You can easily pick up 10 pieces of trash every time you go shopping or on your way to work. It costs just seconds and it makes your city better for everyone. Not only that - people will see you and feel inspired to do the same.

I’m a humble servant of local homeless people, usually at least once a week, someone makes a total mess around our trashcans and I diligently clean it up after them. I’m not even mad at this point.

I also use public transport or walk whenever possible. I’m living in a walkable city and I don’t need to commute to work, so this is also fairly easy for me.

We separate and recycle all we can. This one should be also kinda obvious, it requires nothing and helps a lot.

Charities

I volunteer at a local charity called Adra - please feel free to check their site, you may also donate as well ;).

They usually send me to a local retirement home to play games, read and talk with dementia patients. I volunteer there ever since I lost my grandparents to dementia so it is kinda personal for me. But there are many other ways you can volunteer and even like 2 hours a week can make a huge difference in someone’s life.

I always tell myself that these hours are the “clients” actually saving me from some terrible doom-scrolling or pointless arguing on the internet =).

Speaking of charity - I also use 10% of my income to donate to three charities:

• AgainstMalaria - the name is self-explanatory, but it is worth mentioning that mosquito nets and anti-malaria drugs are among the most efficient ways to save a life from preventable death.

• Unbound - is one of the best-reviewed and verified charities that supports and sponsors the education of kids worldwide.

• Comet Research Center - It is my belief that the famous, legendary global flood of so many myths and religions was caused by a comet. Comets are a serious and highly underestimated existential risk.

Please note that no one can be mad at you for not donating your money especially if your own life is not secure or enjoyable enough. But even a little - and I mean truly little, like a few dollars - can make a life-or-death difference.

Miscellaneous

I donate blood every two months. This is simple, fairly easy, costs just time and liquids if you are young and healthy and it literally saves lives.

We buy all we can from fair-trade and to minimize the use of plastics, we are buying at local “packaging-less” shops where we can just refill our packs. We are also privileged to be able to buy mainly bio/organic food.

I myself am a vegan. Ever since I realized the unity of all consciousness, I dream of living just out of photosynthesis… But sadly, I still need to eat. But at least I try to make it plant-based. Less CO2, less suffering. Maybe there is no escape from the sacrifice, but I try to minimize my participation.

Now this might be difficult for people to do, and I guess I understand - but if you could, please at least try to eat meat, eggs, and dairy from bio/organic/free range sources. Factory farming is hell for animals - and for example, bacon is the fifth smartest animal on the planet.

Adra also runs a sort of charity thrift shop - you can donate all the clothes, dishes, tools, or really anything to them, they resell it for cheap and use the money they make to support local orphanages. We give them basically anything we no longer have use for. There is most likely something like this at your location as well.

I also do illegal tree planting. I collect seeds and saplings of all kinds of trees, incubate them at home for years, and then plant them outside in public spaces in safe spots. I have already planted 42 trees and I take some pride in that. It is a great hobby, it is fun and very grounding. I call it treearchy - as in tree anarchy.

There are also a few others, but I guess this is already my longest article so let’s just be done with it. If you got this far, I really thank you.

All of these took me years to develop, but they are fairly low maintenance, and low-cost, and they are now an integral part of my life. You can easily pick one that you feel is the easiest for you to do, start with that, see how it fits into your lifestyle, and then maybe build upon that.

The world is not perfect, but every act of kindness, no matter how big or small, makes it better.